We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more› By Colleen Hagerty Colleen Hagerty is a writer focused on emergency preparedness.

Whether you’re preparing for your first garden, planning next year’s plantings after a successful harvest or looking to install a lawn, your first step should be conducting a soil test. “Soil is one ...

If you want your plants to grow big and healthy, soil quality matters. Even if you aren’t planning on growing a lush veggie garden, all plants need nutrients to grow, in addition to light and water.

Anxious about the rueful state of his peas, radishes and onions, Rod Marquardt arrived at the University of Minnesota’s soil testing laboratory with two lunch bag-sized containers of dirt. “We’re just ...

Before applying fertilizer or any other soil amendment, it's a good idea to see what the soil already contains. That way you won't be inadvertently increasing a nutrient the soil already has plenty of ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Gardener spoons soil into a plastic testing tube - William Edge/Shutterstock Failing to conduct a soil test is one of the biggest ...

Lead-contaminated soil can have adverse health outcomes, especially for children. Now in its second year, a project offering free soil testing to Lafayette residents is calling on homeowners to submit ...

Soil quality is a major component of growing healthy food plots, as well as other things, such as gardens and yards. There are many different soil test kits available for everyone from the one-plot ...

Gardeners obsess over seed varieties and planting dates, yet the soil under their boots often gets ignored. Soil testing for ...

When you test more than 200,000 soil samples in a year, you not only learn something about how Arkansans grow crops, gardens and lawns, but also the value of recommendations that result from soil test ...